S45
(1) The people should regulate their habits of life in a
wise Banner. We have frequently stated that the Kali-
paraj have an insatiable desire for intoxicating drinks, in
which they indulge excessively. This devil of drink not
only debilitates their health, but often becomes a source
of quarrels, which obstruct close co-operation in produc-
tion and distribution.
(2) The members of some of the castes inhabiting the
village, who spend lavishly on social ceremonies, should
reduce such expenditure as far as possible.
Among other methods of reducing expenditure not
dependent on the will of the people are :
(1) Land revenue, though obviously not an important
cause of the poverty of the people of this village, (because
in this village the richer the class, the larger the landed
property it owns and hence the larger the land revenue
it pays) still acts as a burden to a majority of the families
inhabiting the village who are faced with recurring annual
deficits. Some relief under this head should be granted
to these people, to uplift them as early as possible to a
sound economic level. Some relief should also be granted
to the remaining two groups, with a view to enable the
village as a whole to work out the reconstruction pro-
gramme.
(2) Capital should be made available to the people
through the local co-operative society at a low rate of
interest, say, 5 to 7 per cent, for financing the current
needs of agriculture and other subsidiary occupations,
which ought to be started to solve the poverty problem
of the village. But of greater importance at the present
stage in the economy of this village is the question of the
redemption through a Land Mortgage Bank, of old debts,
which virtually act like a mill-stone, crushing down any
spirit that the villager may have for initiating reforms.
In view of the importance of this cause of poverty viz.
indebtedness, we shall consider it separately in the next
chapter, along with the connected problem of rural
credit.